Matrix proteins

Matrix proteins are large molecules tightly bound to form extensive networks of insoluble fibres. These fibres may even exceed the size of the cells themselves. The proteins are of two general types, structural and adhesive.

The structural proteins, collagen and elastin, are the dominant matrix proteins. At least 10 different types of collagen are present in various tissues. The most common, type I collagen, is the most abundant protein in vertebrate animals, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the total protein in the body. The various collagen types share structural features, all being composed of three intertwined polypeptide chains. In some collagens the chains are linked together by covalent bonds, yielding a ropelike structure of great tensile strength. Indeed, the toughness of leather, chemically treated animal skin, is due to its content of collagen. Elastin is also a cross-linked protein, but, instead of forming rigid coils, it imparts elasticity to tissues. Only one type of elastin is known; it varies in elasticity according to variations in its cross-linking.

The adhesive proteins of the extracellular matrix bind matrix molecules to one another and to cell surfaces. These proteins are modular in that they contain several functional domains packaged together in a single molecule. Each domain binds to a specific matrix component or to a specific site on a cell. The major adhesive protein of the interstitial matrix is called fibronectin; that of the basal lamina is known as laminin.

Cell-matrix interactions

Molecules intimately associated with the cell membrane link cells to the extracellular matrix. These molecules, called matrix receptors, bind selectively to specific matrix components and interact, directly or indirectly, with actin protein fibres that form the cytoskeleton inside the cell. This association of actin fibres with matrix components via receptors on the cell membrane can influence the organization of membrane molecules as well as matrix components and can modify the shape and function of the cytoskeleton. Changes in the cytoskeleton can lead to changes in cell shape, movement, metabolism, and development.

Intercellular recognition and cell adhesion

The ability of cells to recognize and adhere to one another plays an important role in cell survival and reproduction. For example, when starved, several types of single-cell organisms band together to develop the specialized cells needed for reproduction. In this process, certain cells at the centre of the developing aggregate secrete chemicals that cause the other cells to adhere tightly into a group. In the case of slime moldamoebas, starvation causes the secretion of a compound, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP, or CAMP), that induces the cells to stick together end to end. With further aggregation, the cells produce another cell-surface glycoprotein with which they stick to one another over their entire surfaces. The cellular aggregates then produce an extracellular matrix, which holds the cells together in a specific structural form.

Tissue and species recognition

Some multicellular animals or tissues can be dissociated into suspensions of single cells that show the same cellular recognition and adhesion as do aggregates of single-cell organisms. The marine sponge, for example, can be sieved through a mesh, yielding single cells and cells in clumps. When this cell suspension is rotated in culture, the cells reaggregate and in time reform a normal sponge. This reassociation shows selective cell recognition; that is, only cells of the same species reassociate. The ability of the cells to distinguish cells of their own species from those of others is mediated by proteoglycan molecules in the extracellular matrix. The proteoglycan binds to specific cell-surface receptor sites that are unique to a single species of sponge.

Marine sponges are multicellular animals that can regenerate from single cells. The cells of a …

Cells from tissues of vertebrate animals can, like sponge cells, be dissociated and allowed to reaggregate. For example, when vertebrate embryonic cells from two different tissues are dissociated and then rotated together in culture, the cells form a multicellular aggregate within which they sort according to the type of tissue, a sorting that occurs regardless of whether the cells are from the same or different species. The specificity is due to a set of cell-surface glycoproteins called cell adhesion molecules (CAM). A portion of the CAM that extends from the surface of a cell adheres to identical molecules on the surface of adjacent cells. These CAM appear early in embryonic life, and their amounts in tissues change as the organs develop. The CAM, however, are not responsible for the stable adhesion of one cell to another; this more permanent adhesion is carried out by cell junctions.

There are three functional categories of cell junction: adhering junctions, often called desmosomes; tight, or occluding, junctions; and gap, or permeable, junctions. Adhering junctions hold cells together mechanically and are associated with intracellular fibres of the cytoskeleton. Tight junctions also hold cells together, but they form a nearly leakproof intercellular seal by fusion of adjacent cell membranes. Both adhering junctions and tight junctions are present primarily in epithelial cells. Many cell types also possess gap junctions, which allow small molecules to pass from one cell to the next through a channel.

Adhering junctions

Cells subject to abrasion or other mechanical stress, such as those of the surface epithelia of the skin, have junctions that adhere cells to one another and to the extracellular matrix. These adhering junctions are called desmosomes when occurring between cells and hemidesmosomes (half-desmosomes) when linked to the matrix. Adhering junctions distribute mechanical shear force throughout the tissue and to the underlying matrix by virtue of their association with intermediate filaments crossing the interior of the cell. The linkage of these filaments, also called keratin filaments, to the desmosomes and, through these junctions, to adjacent cells provides a nearly continuous fibrous network throughout an epithelial sheet. Adhering junctions are also seen in other types of cells—for example, in the muscles of the heart and uterus—allowing these cells to remain anchored together despite the contractions of the muscles.

Tight junctions

Sheets of cells separate fluids within the organs from fluids outside, as in the epithelial layer lining the intestine. This separation requires leakproof junctions between cells. Tight junctions form leakproof seals by fusing the plasma membranes of adjacent cells, creating a continuous barrier through which molecules cannot pass. The membranes are fused by tight associations of two types of specialized integral membrane proteins, in turn repelling large water-soluble molecules. In invertebrates this function is provided by septate junctions, in which the proteins of the membrane rather than the lipids form the seal.

These junctions allow communication between adjacent cells via the passage of small molecules directly from the cytoplasm of one cell to that of another. Molecules that can pass between cells coupled by gap junctions include inorganic salts, sugars, amino acids, nucleotides, and vitamins but not large molecules such as proteins or nucleic acids.

Gap junctions are crucial to the integration of certain cellular activities. For example, heart muscle cells generate electrical current by the movement of inorganic salts. If the cells are coupled, they will share this electrical current, allowing the synchronous contraction of all the cells in the tissue. This coupling function requires the regulation of molecular traffic through the gaps. The junctions are not open pores but dynamic channels, which change their permeability with changes in cellular activity. They consist of proteins completely crossing the cell membrane as six-sided columns with central pores. Under certain conditions the proteins are thought to change shape, causing the pores to become smaller or larger and thus changing the permeability of the junction.

Gap junctions are also found in tissues that are not electrically active. In these tissues, the junctions allow nutrients and waste products to travel throughout the tissue. Cells in such tissues are said to be metabolically coupled. During the formation of embryos, gap junctions are crucial to establishing differences between separate groups of cells, the coupled cells undergoing development together to become a specialized tissue.

Cell-to-cell communication via chemical signaling

In addition to cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions, cell behaviour in multicellular organisms is coordinated by the passage of chemical or electrical signals between cells. The most common form of chemical signaling is via molecules secreted from the cells and moving through the extracellular space. Signaling molecules may also remain on cell surfaces, influencing other cells only after the cells make physical contact. Finally, as noted above, gap junctions allow small molecules to move between the cytoplasms of adjacent cells.

Hormones secreted by the glands of the endocrine system are carried in the bloodstream to distant …

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Types of chemical signaling

Chemical signals secreted by cells can act over varying distances. In the autocrine signaling process, molecules act on the same cells that produce them. In paracrine signaling, they act on nearby cells. Autocrine signals include extracellular matrix molecules and various factors that stimulate cell growth. An example of paracrine signals is the chemical transmitted from nerve to muscle that causes the muscle to contract. In this instance, the muscle cells have regions specialized to receive chemical signals from an adjacent nerve cell. In both autocrine and paracrine signaling, the chemical signal works in the immediate vicinity of the cell that produces it and is present at high concentrations. A chemical signal picked up by the bloodstream and taken to distant sites is called an endocrine signal. Most hormones produced in vertebrates are endocrine signals, such as the hormones produced in the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and carried by the bloodstream to act at low concentrations on the thyroid or adrenal glands.

The concentration at which a chemical signal acts has significance for its target cell. Chemical signals that act at high concentration act locally and rapidly. On the other hand, chemical signals that act at low concentrations act at distances and are generally slow.

Signal receptors

The ability of a cell to respond to an extracellular signal depends on the presence of specific proteins called receptors, which are located on the cell surface or in the cytoplasm. Receptors bind chemical signals that ultimately trigger a mechanism to modify the behaviour of the target cell. Cells may contain an array of specific receptors that allow them to respond to a variety of chemical signals.

Hormones and active metabolites bind to different types of receptors. Water-soluble molecules …

Signal molecules are either soluble or insoluble. Water-soluble molecules, such as the polypeptide hormone insulin, bind to receptors at cell surfaces. On the other hand, lipid-soluble molecules, such as the steroid hormones produced by the ovary or testis, pass through the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane to reach receptors within the cytoplasm. Extracellular matrix molecules are chemical signals, but, because of their size and insolubility, they act only on cell surface receptors and are neither taken up by the cells nor rapidly destroyed.

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Every organism, or living thing, is made up of structures called cells. The cell is the smallest unit with the basic properties of life. Some tiny organisms, such as bacteria and yeast, consist of only one cell. Large plants and animals have many billions of cells. Human beings are made up of more than 75 trillion cells. The study of cells is a branch of biology.

The smallest unit of living matter that can exist by itself is the cell. Some organisms, such as bacteria, consist of only a single cell. Others, such as humans and oak trees, are composed of many billions of cells.

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